A mode that reads plain ounces vs pounds and ounces. They will all do metric. Why can't we just go metric?

A lock button, so you can reach under and lock in the weigh on a large object that obscures the readout.

35 pound capacity. That usually means a bigger platform than the 5lb models too. Once you have one, you'll use it for other stuff. You can print postage for packages at home and won't have to stand in line at the post office :)

I prefer AA batteries over 9 volts.

Most have auto-off, but check that or you'll be buying more batteries.

Cookie sheets are handy for big items. A plastic grocery bag is good for puffy stuff.

If anyone wants a gram splitter, I have an Ohaus triple beam scale :) Gravity powered, never needs batteries.

OK you've got good advice up there but, I can't help the following thought: If you don't care about accuracy and you only want to know if an item is lighter relative to another then get the cheapest thing you find. :D

The corollary is that if it's too cheap then it won't be consistent from one day to the next. My Uber-Cheap spring powered one is like that. I used to weigh all items on the same day to get consistent (if not accurate) readings. LOL

Hi John, since you're on a budget, personally I'd say don't bother with a scale. You can pretty easily cut your pack weight with common sense and listed weights on items you're trying to lighten up. I know, I'm a heretic, but that's how I did it – never used a scale as a way to lighten up my load, though I'd use a bathroom scale to see how much I lightened it after awhile by wearing my packed pack and weighing myself.

But if you really, really think you need a scale, then any Salter kitchen scale from Target will work just fine, and shouldn't be that expensive.

If you're measuring down for each baffle, maybe you need 0.01 oz or 0.1 g accuracy. Maybe 12 baffles with 4 ounces of down, so 0.3 oz per baffle. 0.1 oz accuracy not enough. 0.01 oz is good enough.

If you're just reducing pack weight, 0.1 oz or 1 g is plenty accurate. If you have 100 items in your pack and each one is measured with 0.1 oz error, that would add up to 10 oz total which probably wouldn't be noticeable.

Playing fast and loose with the term "accuracy" and how errors add : )

I wanted something that would hold larger or bulky items more conveniently, so the bowl feature has been super useful. I also preferred the 11lb max to some of the smaller scales mentioned here. Ounces or grams. When reweighing items at different times it has consistently shown the same weight. It has also come in use for the kitchen or for weighing mail to send out. Price was right for me at $10.

One, a kitchen scale was about $15, and goes to 11 lbs in 0.1 oz increments. Came from harbor freight. You can always find a 20% off coupon online for harbor freight.

The little one (gets used the most) goes to about 500g in oz, g, or other, and is displayed to 0.01g. It was $7 at harbor freight when I bought it 10 yr ago. They are about 12 now. But less with a coupon. I HIGHLY recommend this little scale, its fantastic and fits in your pocket. Very repeatable.

I have been known to take it shopping with me.

If you screw it up somehow, it requires a 500g wt to recalibrate, which isnt common, or cheap. That happened to me once. I filled a water bottle to weigh 500g on another scale. Problem solved.

"If you screw it up somehow, it requires a 500g wt to recalibrate, which isnt common, or cheap."

When I bought the same scale and read the same requirement, I built my own 500g calibration weight out of some old lead fishing weights. Interestingly, the first scale died within a matter of months, so it was replaced at Harbor Freight with an identical one, and the 500g still weighed 500.

I'm with Dale on this — relax, have a home brew. Generally speaking, your scale doesn't have to be that accurate. Within a tenth of an ounce (or a few grams) is fine, and just about every scale out there is better than that. If it isn't, then it is probably not very sturdy, or doesn't have the features you want, so you don't want it anyway.

Personally, I have a couple scales. One is for luggage, and the other is for my gear. The luggage scale is handy for answering the "So what does your pack weigh?" question. In general, I don't care, but I weigh it on the way out the door (which means it has food in it) and I always forget to weigh my pack after a trip. I carry what I consider to the best compromise for me — I'm really not trying to win an ultralight competition here. But my friends always ask, so it is nice to have an answer for them.

For a gear scale, a difference of a few grams isn't going to change your decision making. The breakthrough comes when you weigh something and compare it alternatives. I can't imagine exchanging something for something else (or leaving it at home) if it weighs 16 grams versus 17.

I can see why Dale bought one scale to do it all. It is handier than my scale, which was probably only a few cents cheaper. Mine can only handle around five pounds at the most. Generally speaking, that isn't a problem for ultralight hiking, but it limits the overall usability of the scale.

I wrote some articles about ultralightweight backpacking back in the 1980's. The general advice that I suggested was to have three scales (back then). One was a postal scale, and it would weigh in fractions of an ounce up to one pound. Then the second was a baby scale, and it would weigh in two-ounce increments up to 30 pounds. Lastly, an ordinary bathroom scale, and it weighed in one-pound increments up to 250 pounds. All of these were analog spring-style scales, because that is almost all that we had back then.

Since there weren't too many small gear alternatives that kept us using the postal scale, most of the pack weighing used the baby scale. Our total loads tended to be 14-19 pounds.

With most of the digital scales we see now, one small digital scale and one large digital bathroom scale is about all you need.